Sunday, May 29, 2011

Looking for the Lost / Hunting Changelings and Fetches

One of the things I've been thinking about recently is how to use a Changelings pre-abduction family and friends in a Changeling: the Lost chronicle.
I suspect that there's a temptation to just play these folks as the innocent dupes of the Fetch, totally unaware of any sinister goings on, and completely shocked and surprised if the 'truth' comes out.
In fact, I imagine they are used as a tool for confrontation, in that they can serve as a dramatic device when supporting the Fetch and rejecting the Changeling.

The thing is, though, that folklore rarely tells its tale from the Changelings perspective, and instead favours the mortal who sees through the glamour and identifies the replacement for what it is - an alien imposter.
The core rules give several examples of this in the flavour text, and then neglects to go into further detail in the Antagonists/Storytelling sections.

I'm thinking that there's a great wealth of drama and story to be had from the friends and family that notice that this person close to them has changed somehow.
I can see a classic psychological horror playing out as they investigate the Fetch, testing its memories and personality, discovering its flaws; maybe it doesn't have a birthmark, or an allergy, or suddenly likes sea food, or has different finger prints. Maybe it understands advanced mathematics, or doesn't know how to speak French anymore.
What do these people do? Nobody believes them. How do they prove that this person is an impostor? Who do they think the Fetch really is? Do they have any theories as to why? Most people won't think of the Fae, and could instead think of any number of conspiracies, including:
Foreign nations
Super science clones
Aliens
Secret societies
If played correctly, the list is near endless, with Arcadia quite near the bottom.

So, what do you do, when you suspect this person you know nd care deeply about has been replaced or changed?
Do you confront them directly? What if they don't even know they're not real?

And then, what if a confrontation leads to violence, and the Fetch is killed, possibly exploding in a shower of twigs and newspaper, or reverting to a wire frame and rag construct in the morgue or during the open casket view?
How do you reconcile that?

I kind of see this as a perfect one shot Mortals game, or the lead in to a Hunter: the Vigil game.
I imagine a number of Hunters would investigate a Fetch, and give the mad assertions of individual friends and family credence.

One last thing. A question. What if the Changeling is just a by-product of the process? What if the Fetch is the goal, a sleeper agent with an implanted agenda even it is unaware of?
Maybe the Fetch is a breeder, or an agent tasked with opening more doors.

If you look closely, you can see the Hedge on the other side of this door...


6 comments:

  1. It's always nice to see Changeling: The Lost material online. I'm often surprised that there are not more bloggers scribbling away about the WoD.

    I like the ideas you've come up with. One thing i find fascinating about Changeling is the incredible number of options that can be taken when writing a Chronicle. The game is so amenable to broad interpretation.

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  2. Cheers, Christian.
    I think you're right, I have to wade through about 50 blog entries to find a WoD one. I think I'm lucky that all the WoD blogs I have found are of such high quality.
    I'm still struggling to find some Gumshoe blogs though. Have you ever thought of giving that a try? The scenario design mechanism you demonstrated on your last post would fit Gumshoe scenario design. To. A. Tee.

    I'm so gearing up for Changeling. It's unreal. I'm hoping to recruit some players as soon as I've got my house sorted.

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  3. It is a great setting- I like playing with the Fetch elements. When I was coming up with the Fetches for our party, I tried to make each of them fairly distinct: at least one classicly awful, another reading his nature as being some other kind of supernatural, another with a strange power (eating diseases out of children), one with two fetches, one where the PC thought it was a fetch but it turned out to be a twin sister (the Keeper had simply written the PC out of the lives), and I think at least one where the fetch had no clue about its nature and no real malice. There are great stories to play with there.

    In our campaign, the PC have had some hints that there are "enlightened" fetches who know their nature and have been able to find others like themselves. They know there are hunters out there (the Changelings) and they've banded together for protection.

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  4. A Fetch conspiracy? Awesome.
    What else would they do? Would they investigate the Fae more, or get involved in other supernaturals affairs?
    How far would they go to protect their secrets?

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  5. Hey there! I was glad as soon as I opened this web page of your blog. What was the most important goal the moment when you took a decision to compose this site?

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  6. I love your story seed about the Fetches as the purpose and as sleeper agents. There's a lot of mileage in that one.

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